Branches of Government Worksheets

About this resource

Teaching the three branches of government and need something students can actually write on? This is a complete kit for one unit, written at a middle school reading level and laid out with real room to work. It starts with two plain-words charts: the legislative, executive and judicial branches, then five checks and balances. Students then match the vocabulary, match officials to their branch, tell which branch fits a situation and how they know, name the branch doing the checking, decide true or false and fix the false ones, fill in sentences, read the opening words of Articles I, II and III of the Constitution, think through an invented case study, and write in ruled boxes. Three cut-and-paste sort mats finish it. It comes with answer keys, a tracker, a class grid, a team note and a family page, so nothing has to be written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (32 pages)

• 16 student pages in 12 page types: Plain-Words Chart (2 pages), Match It, Match the Official, Which Branch? and Checks and Balances (2 pages), True or False?, Fill In the Sentence, Read the Words, Case Study, Explain It, Build a Paragraph, Branch Snapshot, and Cut and Paste (3 pages)
• 59 scored items on 9 pages, every answer read from the same lists that print the page, never typed by hand
• 16 invented scenarios (8 officials to match to a branch, 8 situations to match to a branch) plus 1 invented case study with no outcome given
• 8 vocabulary words matched to 10 meanings (two meanings are not used)
• 3 primary-source quotes from the Constitution: the opening words of Article I, Article II and Article III
• 21 cut-and-paste pieces on 3 sort mats (8 pieces into 2 boxes, 8 pieces into 4 boxes, 5 pieces into 5 slots)
• 3 answer keys, including what to look for on the 5 open-response pages
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date, notes) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page), 1 family page and 1 filled example (an invented student)
• 1 phrase bank (17 starters, including student sentence starters for explaining and claim-evidence-reasoning), 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types

1. Plain-Words Chart, 2 pages: the three branches with separation of powers and checks and balances, then five checks (veto, override, confirmation, judicial review, impeachment), each with an example. Students keep it beside them for the other pages.

2. Match It: 8 words (bill, veto, override, confirm, impeach, cabinet, treaty, appeal) matched to lettered meanings.

3. Match the Official: 8 officials (a senator, the President, a Supreme Court justice and more); pick legislative, executive or judicial from a box.

4. Which Branch?: 4 scenarios; write the branch that does the job, then explain how you know in a 3-line ruled box.

5. Checks and Balances: 4 scenarios; write the branch that is doing the checking, then explain how you know.

6. True or False?: 6 statements, then fix two false ones in 4-line ruled boxes.

7. Fill In the Sentence: 8 sentences and a box of 10 words (two are not used).

8. Read the Words: the opening words of Articles I, II and III, with questions and a short explanation.

9. Case Study: an invented bill, a veto, and two sides. Name the branches, name the check, give a reason for each side, and say what could happen next. There is no answer given for who is right.

10. Explain It: three prompts with 5-line boxes and sentence starters.

11. Build a Paragraph: a claim, evidence, reasoning organizer on which check matters most, plus a counterpoint.

12. Branch Snapshot: pick one branch, say it in your own words, give a check on it and draw it.

13. Cut and Paste, 3 pages: two boxes, four boxes, then five slots. The pieces touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines, and every piece is over an inch each way.

Built For The Student Holding The Page

A "My name" line, one short instruction, large type, and no cartoons, mascots or clip art. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. Ruled boxes are about a third of an inch a line: a short answer gets 3 lines and an explanation gets 5 or more. Body text is 11 point or larger. The file prints clean in black and white.

No Guessing The Answer

Wherever a student picks among printed spots (the lettered meanings, the box of words, the order of the cut pieces), the position of the right answer is checked so it never sits in the same spot three times in a row.

Invented Scenarios, Not Legal Advice

The summaries are the standard, textbook-level kind, kept short. Every scenario and the case study are made up for practice. Real government depends on details and on courts, so use your own curriculum or standards for anything beyond this level. There is a blank line on the tracker for your own standard or wording.

Type In, Or Print

The name line, every answer box and every ruled box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the family page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Middle school social studies and civics classes, special education and resource rooms working on the same unit, co-taught classes, and substitutes who need a unit that is ready to hand out. The reading is written at about a grades 6-8 level.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A branches of government worksheet set with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, legal advice, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.